On July 30, 2015, the Medicaid program will officially turn 50 years old. And while the event has certainly been commemorated, let’s just say that in many states, it wasn’t with quite the same enthusiasm of Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” serenade to President John F. Kennedy for his birthday. Read more.

In the full-speed ahead Republican battle against Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, some GOP-heavy states have taken an off-ramp straight into their own version of Frankenstein’s laboratory. There, states have taken the Medicaid program, tinkered with it, and added enough ancillary parts to expand the program while still trying to appease the party base. Not an easy task, as regardless of the finished product, some villagers will always be carrying torches.Read more.

A case with the ability to turn the Affordable Care Act on its ear finally went mainstream. Halbig v. Burwell has been coming so long that it was originally filed under a different name (Halbig v. Sebelius). It took its time, but the case led to a 2-1 appellate court decision that has brought the long-running debate over health insurance exchanges to a boil.Read more.

Virginia is at a stalemate over whether or not to expand Medicaid—a dispute so acrimonious that the state government could be headed for a shutdown. The looming debate has had an impact on the state’s Medicaid carriers, all of which have seen increases in enrollment in recent years. Read more.

When the state of Arkansas broached its private model for Medicaid expansion, it held up as a potential roadmap for partnerships between states hesitant to expand their Medicaid programs. But the second-state to follow that course, Iowa, is emerging as the bellwether for market innovation.

Drama. Intensity. Emotions reaching a boiling point. Characters with murky motives. Debates about how things are going to end. While this sounds like a description of HBO’s hit television drama “True Detective,” it also aptly describes the Medicaid expansion debate still raging across multiple states. “True Medicaid”? Not sure if that’s a TV show anyone wants to air, but it certainly is not lacking for lead characters.Read more.

On July 30, 2015, the Medicaid program will officially turn 50 years old. And while the event has certainly been commemorated, let’s just say that in many states, it wasn’t with quite the same enthusiasm of Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” serenade to President John F. Kennedy for his birthday. Read more.

Imagine, for the first time in your life, you are able to sign up for Netflix and have access to the movies you want, when you want them. You sign up, pay your monthly dues, then go to stream the movie you want, only to find out you don’t have access through Netflix. Hulu has the movie available, but your subscription doesn’t work with that service. Another option is to buy the movie, but that will cost a considerable amount more than you want to pay, which is why you signed up for Nexflix in the first place. If you can’t get the movie you want, when you want it, through your Netflix account, what is the point of having it? Read more.

In a move mirroring a nationwide trend, New Orleans’ leading health system, Ochsner Health, entered into a clinical affiliation with CVS Health in April 2015. The affiliation allows the organizations to share patient information via electronic health records, an exchange that encourages physician and pharmacist collaboration on chronic disease management and medication adherence.

When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed five years ago, on March 23, 2010, it dramatically changed the Medicaid landscape across the United States—just not in the way lawmakers intended.

While it may be true that you can't always get what you want, sometimes you can get pretty darn close. Just ask Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Pence. In May 2014, the potential GOP presidential candidate requested an ambitious Medicaid expansion waiver that would rely heavily on conservative-friendly ideals, such as dedicated health accounts, personal responsibility and a strict plan for member noncompliance.

As the Medicare ACO program enters its fourth year and Part D celebrates its ninth year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is investigating ways to marry the two programs to bring coordinated care and the concept of shared savings to Medicare drug benefits. Read more.

More than 7.2 million people have gained Medicaid coverage since the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces opened in October—an impressive number, considering that only half of states (25 plus the District of Columbia) have opted to expand their Medicaid programs as called for in the ACA. These figures, which represent the end of June 2014, exclude Maine and North Dakota.

In the full-speed ahead Republican battle against Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, some GOP-heavy states have taken an off-ramp straight into their own version of Frankenstein’s laboratory. There, states have taken the Medicaid program, tinkered with it, and added enough ancillary parts to expand the program while still trying to appease the party base. Not an easy task, as regardless of the finished product, some villagers will always be carrying torches.Read more.